Sarah’s Blog

OK, this is not from me. I’ll admit to borrowing this idea from a great abs-expert, David Grisaffi (www.flattenyourownabs.com). He wrote a few years ago (not exact quote): “tie a string around your waist so you can feel when you eat a little too much, clothes may stretch, a string won’t”.

He’s right of course, but being a girl, the idea of a string around my waist just didn’t sit right. I headed for the nearest “bling-store” and looked for a waist-chain. Sure, there were some, and some were cute too, but at the time … they were all too short for me! I guess that at 205 lbs you’re not expected to wear a waist chain … so what to do? I did not want that string!

Next stop, after having measured my then voluminous waist, was the hardware store. You read that right. They have sections of the store with different styles, types and thicknesses of chains. I chose one I found nice enough, rounded links, not too large but enough to hook something into to close it around me, and a little piece of hardware to do just that (there was a guy showing me different options, don’t remember what he called the things J but it kept the chain closed). Of course, I didn’t say what I was going to use it for!

My goal was to “get into” the nice bling-chain I bought instead of the hardware one, and I did. However, being fancy it broke very quickly. Those things just aren’t made to wear when you squat and lift, just to show off at the beach in a bikini, or with hip hugger jeans while strolling somewhere doing nothing. I was in the garden lifting some rocks and roots, and snap … no more bling.

Solution: hardware store chain again, but I added a small ring to it at a distance from the end to hook into, leaving the rest dangling. After a while I also found a metal bead to hang at the dangling end to make it look nicer if I wore something showing a bit of bare waist (since now I could!).

My main tools for achieving this “showable” waist, were BFFM (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) for about 6-8 months, but I switched to a winning combination of EODD (Every Other Day Diet) and 7MM (7 Minute Muscle) that I’ve been following for the past year and a half and I don’t see any need to ever change to anything else as far as nutrition plan, and the workouts I’ll change a little just for variety’s sake.

You can get your own copies right here:

EODD   http://tinyurl.com/myEODD

7MM     http://tinyurl.com/7MinMuscl

BFFM    http://tinyurl.com.4ez2ga    

I still use the chain-trick too. When I know we’re going to a “do” where I suspect the presence of a lot of foods, I strap on my chain under my clothes and make sure it’s hooked up snugly. As soon as I feel it dig into me, I slow down on the consumption of the foods presented. And it works.

Believe you me, I’ve tried the

Detailed eating and drinking plan written down before I go

Note on my cell-phone set to go off during the meal to remind me to watch out

Writing my goal weight/ bodyfat percentage in my hand like a school girl’s cheat-note

Hubby telling me the goal-weight number during the meal if I reach for something I shouldn’t

Kicks under the table for the same things

The chain works better, because it’s a physical reminder which is there all the time.  I often didn’t hear the cell; hubby wouldn’t notice and warn me because he was caught up in a conversation and didn’t see I was having my third of something one would have been plenty of; the detailed plan, even well rehearsed, evaporated from my mind at the sight of a freshly made lemon pie; and the note in my hand? Heck, there was a fork in that hand people!

Just a little trick; but it’s often the little things, the details, which keep you on track. If you can, get a bling-chain (remember, no lifting while you wear it) or a sturdier hardware chain; or if you can afford it a length of gold or silver chain, why not!? I’ve made a silver one out of two necklaces and one bracelet (I had a set and mom had just the necklace but gave it to me years ago) for dressier occasions like a pool party in a bikini

Battles are won, battles are lost; what counts is to win the war – the declared war on excess bodyfat. This little trick is tool to help win one type of battle: the eating-party battle.

Until next time, train with purpose and eat clean!

Sarah, CPT

www.trainwithsarah.com

That’s not a typo in the title, I did mean best ways and not best way. Because there is no one way to train optimally. Or … there is. Confused? Good  

So many trainers and "gurus" are telling us that their way is the way, the only way you’ll ever … burn fat, build muscle, etc. Some of them are just repeating something they’ve read in a magazine, some have really tried the program they claim is the one to end all search for your solution. However, they are all wrong, to a degree.

There is no universal program that will truly end all search. What works well for one person, may not do a d***d thing for the other; or at best give them slower and weaker results, which is of course, discouraging!

Where you will have the best chance at finding the right program for you, which is what you want after all, is when you find the program inventor/discoverer or whatever you want to call them, who was at a similar point in life to where you are now, before they changed to become the person you admire today.

Let’s say you’re a scrawny person, the kind that cannot seem to put on any weight no matter what you do. If you like the looks of an internet "guru" you will be tempted to follow their advise, right? But make sure you follow the advise of one who was a scrawny "before" person (Jeff Anderson being one of those), not the former fatty!

The same goes if you are now overweight or obese. Look for a "guru" who used to be overweight or obese themselves before they developped their program and look as fabulous now as you want to look by your goal date(Such as Jon Benson).

You may still not find the optimal program for your body, your ambition, your lifestyle. Don’t be afraid to shop around a little, look at other programs as well. Your body adapts, it gets used to what you ask of it. After a year, the program that worked perfectly may no longer be the best thing for you, or you want to have two programs to switch between every 6 months or so.

When you get the "HIIT or nothing" cardio pushers vs the "steady state cardio is the only way" they are in fact both right; it just depends on how their bodies work and accept the different cardio training. It’s a little more complicated thatn that really, but just to keep it simple for now, I’ll put it down to body-type and previous training experience. What the HIIT-guys probably don’t think about either, is that everyone can’t do those spurts they ask for – not necessarily because their hearts or lungs can’t handle the pace, but the bladders could have that stress related leak problem, and running certainly is not an option in that case.

The same thing could well be the case with weight programs. It’s not because one says to use only circuit training or the other says to use as heavy a weight as you can and rest between sets, that either is right or wrong. These are just different routines, different ways of targeting the muscles and tricking them into adding strength and size. Some of the exercises you may not be able to do, either physically or mentally (and by that I mean that you can’t seem to get the mind-muscle connection from an exercise), but there are always alternative exercises for any bodypart. The "guru’s" claim that you must use only the exercise chosen in the program … don’t let it phase you and keep you from doing that program if there is just one or two exercises you feel you need to switch, it’ll still work!

In light of all this, why am I then doing Combat The Fat, since it’s designed by an ex-army guy and a hard-gainer, when I’m an ex-couch-potato and gain easily? Good question.

Reason nr one, good old female curiosity  

Reason nr two, the guy is over 40 and had added some "winter fat" all of a sudden, and he used this program to burn it off, so it could work on me too.

Reason nr three, the army gets all kinds of people in as recruits, hard gainers, people who gain (fat) easily, all three  -morph types, so it had to work, right? Well, it does.

I’m jealous  Lewis has a 4-pack already! In just 6 weeks, he gets a 4-pack! I know, men and their testosterone, right? They drop that bodyfat faster, the pack on muscle faster, and as a result look better/good faster. The pictures tell me I’m looking better than on day 1, which is obviously why I say this program works; and there are 6 weeks left till the challenge dead-line. I am confident that I’ll at least have a shadow of a 4-pack by then! (so there!)

In any case, if you do opt for a 12-week challenge – almost every program has them, especially in spring – remember that life does not stop after those 12 weeks.

You may not win the challenge itself, but you will have won your own self respect and admiration ("hey, I can do this! I work out regularly, eat clean, and I’ve dropped x-nr of lbs of fat or gained so many of muscle"!). Don’t stop because the challenge is over!!

My plan is to keep it up for 13 weeks in fact, then take a week off (possibly doing the EODD detox, not sure yet) and start up again for another 13 weeks of the same Combat The Fat program before taking two weeks off. By then, we’ll be mid-October, and I have no idea what I’ll be doing after those two weeks off while my parents are visiting from Europe, but I do know I won’t just sit on the couch all winter! BFFM? Jon Benson’s new program to be launched next week? I have NO idea right now, but I’ll let you know when the time comes!

The message I’m trying to get across is basically to shop around for a couple of programs that suit you; then stick to them, switching between one and the other to ward off boredom and keep your muscles "guessing" at what’s going to hit them next. You can also mix and match programs … pick the EODD for the nutrition part, especially if you don’t feel like calculating and weighing and doing more maths than cooking; use CTF for the fat burning training; switch to BFFM for winter training or keep CTF until you have the bodyfat levels where you want them … it’s up to you. You will be the one designing the perfect program for you!

You are the one who knows you best, so listen to you and take care of you while you’re still there to do it!

Never mind what you did before, how you erred and messed up and got to the out-of-shape state you’re in (assuming you are). You build the future starting now, the past is … well, gone really isn’t it!? So forget it, or learn from it and move on to better ways and better days!

Check out www.atozfitness.com for all programs we have tested and trust. Remember there are a number of free e-book downloads by the same authors as the programs, so you can have a sneak-peek into their way of thinking and explaining before you decide who you want to give your trust to.

Oh, and you don’t have to have a female trainer if you’re female and male if you’re male … a muscle will respond just as well regardless of trainer gender! The main difference I’ve found, is that many "female programs" are too soft in the approach; which is why Karen Sessions is on the AtoZ page … nothing overly soft about that Iron Doll  

There is a free download of hers on the page; as well as one from Jon Benson on cardio, and a chapter by Tom Venuto from the old All Stars e-book  if you sign up for the AtoZ Fitness Newsletter; so yes, you can find your program or combination of programs, knowing they are not there to fill up a web page, but to give you the best choice possible when you decide to make that lifestyle change or look to find a plateau breaker, or just variation.

And if you feel you need someone to be accountable to, or you want help setting up the whole program, I’m just a click or two away at www.trainwithsarah.com

Most important though: have fun with it !!

At least 7 scientific studies have provided strong evidence that energy containing beverages (i.e., “liquid calories”) do not properly activate the satiety mechanisms in the body and brain and do not satisfy the appetite as well as food in solid form. 

Epidemiological research also supports a positive association between calorie-containing beverage consumption and increased body weight or body mass index. New research now suggests that soda may not be the only culprit…

Researchers compared solid and beverage forms of foods composed primarily of carbohydrate, fat or protein in order to document the independent effect of food form in foods with different dominant macronutrient sources.

Based on previous research, some experts have recommended targeting specific beverages as being “worse” than others. High fructose corn syrup and soda has been singled out the most and you’ve probably seen that yourself in the news.

There’s no question that soda has been on top of the “hit list” for some time now, by virtue of the amounts and frequency of consumption alone.

However, this recent study says that from a pure energy balance perspective, we should be cautious about ALL liquid calories, not just soda and not just carbohydrates!

Fruit juice for example, appears to be an obvious improvement over soda, so many people have swapped out their soda for fruit juice. However, when fruit juice is compared to an equal amount of calories from whole fruit, the whole fruit satisfies appetite better (largely due to the bulk and fiber content), and so you tend to eat fewer calories for the day.

Men are especially guilty of this when they drink alcohol – Men tend to drink AND eat, while women tend to drink INSTEAD OF eating.

This new research found that with all three macronutrients – protein, carbs or fat – daily calorie intake was significantly greater when the beverage form was consumed as compared to the solid.

Yes, it’s true! Even protein drinks did not satisfy the appetite the way that protein foods did!

While you would think that protein drinks are purely a good thing, because protein foods have been proven to reduce appetite and increase satiety, if you turn a solid protein food into a protein drink, it loses it’s appetite suppressive properties in the same way that happens when you turn fruit into fruit juice.

Why do liquid calories fail to elicit the same response as whole foods? reasons include:

• high calorie density
• lower satiety value
• more calories ingested in short period of time
• lower demand for oral processing
• shorter gastrointestinal transit times
• energy in beverages has greater bioaccessibility and bioavailability
• mechanisms may include cognitive, orosensory, digestive, metabolic, endocrine and neural influences (human appetite is a complex thing!!!)
• last but not least, nowhere in our history have our ancestors had access to large amounts of liquid calories. Alcohol may have been around as far back as several thousand years BC, but even that is a blip on the evolutionary calendar of humanity.

As a result, our genetic code has never developed the physiological mechanisms to properly register the caloric content in liquids the way it does when you eat, chew and swallow whole foods.

Bottom line: This study suggests that we shouldn’t just target one type of liquid calories such as soda. If you’re trying to beat body fat, it’s wise to limit all types of liquid calories and eat whole foods as much as possible.

Start by ditching the soda. Then ditch the high calorie dessert coffees. Then cut back on the alcohol. From there, be cautious even about milk, juice and protein drinks.

Drink water or tea instead, or limited amounts of black coffee – without all the high calorie extras.

If you do consume any beverages that contain calories, such as protein shakes, be sure to account for those calories meticulously and be sure you don’t drink them in addition to your usual food intake, but in place of an equal amount of food calories.

Remember, those protein shakes you might be drinking are called “meal replacements” not “free calories!”

For many years I have suggested focusing primarily on whole foods rather than liquids, even protein shakes. Unlike so many other fat reduction programs, Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle http://tinyurl.com/4ez2ga does not require any kind of liquid meal replacement or protein drinks and our company does not exist to sell supplements; we are here to educate you and millions of others about the realities of body fat loss.

We now have even more scientific data that confirms what Burn The Fat has been teaching all along.

I hope you found this helpful. You can learn more about “Burn The Fat” at http://tinyurl.com/4ez2ga

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Fat Loss Coach

Burn The Fat
http://tinyurl.com/4ez2ga

Reference: Effects of food form on appetite and energy intake in lean and obese young adults. International Journal of Obesity. 2007 Nov (11):1688-95. Mourao DM, Bressan J, Campbell WW, Mattes RD. Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059, USA.

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